16-OCT-2017
Agitated, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2017
I noticed this blue “Please do not feed” signage first, and waited to see if any of the many birds in the area would dare to approach it. In a matter of moments, this very agitated bird landed on top of the wall, right next to the signage. It strutted past the sign and into my frame. I made this image just as the bird was moving forward. Its beak is wide open and its yellow eye seems to stare accusingly at us. We can only imagine what must be bugging it.
As for me, I intend this image as a commentary on two factors that seem to be in conflict here. Birds usually hang around public parks, primarily to be either fed by humans or to scavenge their refuse. Yet this park clearly tells its patrons not to feed birds. The bird in question here seems to be “putting its foot down” in favor of a free meal.
11-JUN-2014
Urban palms, State Street, Santa Barbara, California, 2014
Palms and plantings line the State Street sidewalks that flow past Santa Barbara’s most upscale shops. I framed this incongruous shot so that the single pedestrian in my image appears to be wandering alone through a tropical forest. The only things in this image that are made by the hand of man are the sidewalk, a building, and the vintage metal and glass street lamp that magically rises through the palms to create this urban landscape.
26-MAR-2013
Sunset vista from Gold Canyon, Arizona, 2013
I made this image from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains, about 30 miles east of Phoenix. Dozens of slender Saguaro Cactus plants echo the repeating utility poles that line a suburban roadway at left. The work of man and the product of nature mingle in the dusk, as the eye sweeps back into a vista of the metropolitan area known as the “Valley of the Sun.” It is indeed the golden light of the sun itself that creates the atmosphere and mood of this image. As we move back towards the layers of mountains in the background, we can even make out the tiny cluster of transmission towers atop Phoenix’s well-known South Mountain at the upper center of the image. While much of the foreground, as well the massive mountains in the distance, are the work of nature, the work of man carries the eye deep into this image. The road at left leads the eye towards the far distant transmission towers on South Mountain, which, in turn, echoes the upright line of utility poles in the foreground. There is a large home at the left edge of the frame, and the sun reflects off the rooftops of distant buildings that fill the valley beyond.
09-FEB-2013
Gilded cage, Ringling Circus Museum, Sarasota, Florida, 2013
The lavishly painted and decorated cages that line this museum once held powerful circus animals, such as lions and tigers. My photograph stresses a carved, toga-clad wooden figure dominating a corner of one of those cages and symbolizing classical history. The statue, and indeed the entire cage, is painted gold, the color of wealth. Spectators were once expected to stand awestruck before this splendid work of man, while the animals – a product of the natural world – were destined to pace nervously back and forth within the confines of the iron bars that fill much of the frame. No matter how ornate the cage might be, and how benign the purpose of a pleasurable circus, I intend this image to express man’s cruel dominance over the most impressive creatures of nature, even when they may be packaged in a gilded cage adorned with tasteful allegorical figures.
12-FEB-2013
Natural embrace, Andersonville National Cemetery, Andersonville, Georgia, 2013
The branches of a huge tree embrace these graves of American military casualties from World War II, as well as those from the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. It seems as if nature itself is watching over its own here, and in a way, it is. Man, while often at odds with the natural world, is also a product of that world. This massive tree is so much larger than the grave stones, which means it has been here at least as long as they have, and perhaps even longer. My image asks the viewer a simple question: if this huge tree could think, one wonders what conclusions it might come up with.
07-FEB-2013
Emergence, Vizcaya Gardens, Miami, Florida, 2013
Vizcaya was once the palatial winter home of James Deering, who gained his great wealth when J.P. Morgan purchased his Deering Harvester Company in 1902 and merged it with the McCormick Reaper Company to form International Harvester. Deering built this 180-acre estate between 1914 and 1916. We did not tour his lavishly decorated home because photography is prohibited. Instead we concentrated on Vizcaya’s gardens, one of the best examples of Italian garden design in the United States. I made this image in one of the many walled nooks where Deering’s architects placed 200 year old sculptures that once were on display in Venice, Italy. Most of the sculpted figures are characters from classical mythology, including this bearded sculpture that seems to emerge from the wall behind it, rising from a lush bed of plantings at its feet. The fresh green plantings represent the natural world– they regenerate every year and are carefully nurtured. The stone wall and the sculpted figure looming above these plants can symbolize the aspirations of man, such as power, wealth and knowledge. The plants remain pristine, while the figure and wall show the wear of time.
12-FEB-2013
Intrusion, Andersonville, Georgia, 2013
While photographing at the site of the infamous Andersonville Civil War prison camp, I found still another story to tell – this one etched in the sky beyond the forests enclosing this national historic site. The stark chimneys of neighboring industrial facilities are disgorging massive quantities of cloud like material, and pouring it into the luminous cloudscape designed by nature itself – a scene already in place. Man’s own clouds, whether made of smoke or steam, polluted or unpolluted, prove incongruously out of place here.
09-JAN-2013
Confrontation, Palm Springs, California, 2013
The jaws of a massive palm tree, clawing at the window of a local sports bar, seem about to devour all that lies within. Meanwhile, an incongruously small decorative football dangles in its path, creating a symbolic confrontation between man and nature. The room seems to be abandoned, as if all who once celebrated here have fled before nature’s onslaught. The play of light and shadow on the scene adds an emotional touch to the image -- the surreal reflections on the glass window mysteriously paint the palm as in a curtain of glowing, foggy light.
12-AUG-2012
Fawn, Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, California, 2012
As I walked the trails of this nature reserve, a deer suddenly appeared before me with her fawn in tow. I allowed the deer to cross the trail, and waited for the fawn to reach its midpoint before I made this image. In doing so, I place the fawn precisely between two rope fences, symbolizing both the presence and purposes of man. The ropes are there to protect the delicate products of nature on either side of the trail. Yet the fawn, also a natural creature, is suspended here between the ropes, gingerly crossing a trail built both for the convenience of man and for the protection of nature. The late afternoon backlight and my tight framing serve to abstract and simplify the subject, making it more symbolic and less descriptive.
23-NOV-2011
Afternoon walk, Soke, Turkey, 2011
I photographed this man trudging along the road beside a bank of vivid yellow wildflowers. He hunches forward, bearing an expression of haste on his face. This image asks us to wonder if he would ever stop to study these blossoms, or perhaps even appreciate their smell. I made the shot the front seat from a moving tour bus. I could see both the man and the flowers coming up when we were a block away, and was well prepared to catch his expression as we rushed past him.
19-NOV-2011
Fisherman, Acre, Israel, 2011
This fisherman was kneeling on the top of Acre’s historic sea wall, first built by the Crusaders, and improved by the conquering Ottomans. He seems reflective – one wonders if he is thinking about the history beneath his knee, or the fish he dreams of catching? I liked the way my 24mm wideangle lens embraces the assorted clouds, the waters of Acre’s harbor, and the distant shoreline as well. All are provided to this man as a gift of nature – even the fish as yet unseen and uncaught.
22-DEC-2010
Arrival, Recife, Brazil, 2010
The jagged skyline of Recife looms in the distance, its man-made towers dwarfed by nature’s impressive display of storm clouds overhead. Our cruise ship neared Recife’s harbor just as the sun was setting behind the clouds, and I made this image just as a shaft of sunlight appeared within a sharply defined notch over the city. No matter how vast a city (Recife, Brazil’s sixth largest metropolitan area, holds nearly four million people), nature always holds the upper hand.
23-DEC-2010
Namesake, Recife, Brazil, 2010
Recife means “reef” in Portuguese, an allusion to the coral reef that lines the city’s shores. As our cruise departed from the city at dusk, I made this image of that reef, dividing the Atlantic Ocean from the city’s man made harbor. The evening light and overhead clouds, cause the two bodies of water to take on entirely different textures and coloration, an example of man’s effect on nature, and nature’s effect on man.
26-DEC-2010
Dependence, Belem, Brazil, 2010
One of Belem’s ornate 19th century buildings has become a roosting place for the flocks of vultures that scavenge for food near the city’s harbor and marketplace. This image offers an example of how man’s lofty accomplishments may eventually also host the creatures of nature -- creatures that become dependent on the work of man for their own survival.
04-SEP-2010
The curtain, Mission Beach, San Diego, California, 2010
One of the most vivid examples of nature at work is the daily passage of the sun itself around the earth. At dawn and sunset that passage is at its most impressive stage. When weather intervenes, it can at times become even more dramatic. This is what is happening here, as a setting sun falls through a curtain of low hanging storm clouds over the Pacific Ocean, creating a band of brilliant orange sky below it. Man can only watch in wonder and awe, as this pair of surfers is doing here. The very waves they ride are also creations of nature, as well as man himself.
21-JUL-2010
Organ loft, The Old First Church, Bennington, Vermont, 2010
As I spot-metered on the light illuminating the silver pipes of the church’s organ, I noticed that the huge window behind those pipes was filled with greenery. The church appears as a work of man, yet the work of nature seems to press upon us from outside, but it cannot enter. The mass of green symbolizes life, and energizes the image.
28-MAY-2010
Number Hill, Arco, Idaho, 2010
Arco was the first community in the world ever illuminated by electricity generated by nuclear power. (A reactor melted down in 1961, causing the world’s first fatal reactor accident.) Yet the most striking physical feature of the town is Number Hill, a rocky hill with numbers painted all over it. Since 1920, Butte County High School has made a tradition of asking each class to paint its graduation year on the face of the hill. In this portrait of Number Hill, I was able to combine the painted numerals symbolizing the memories of man upon a work of nature at the very moment that nature itself was also painting the hill with dappled light and shadow.
28-MAY-2010
Osprey nest, Palisades Reservoir, Idaho, 2010
While traveling through Idaho, we encountered a sight that was not only incongruous but also expressed the linkage between man and nature. An osprey was peeking at us from its nest atop a power line tower. Usually birds of prey build their nests in trees deep in the forest, yet this one had constructed its home at the very top of an object built and used for the energy needs of man. (I have some fears for its safety up there amidst all that voltage, yet so far, so good.) Using a long 400mm telephoto lens, I framed the image so that the power lines and the tower create a series of repeating diagonal lines that echo each other and draw the eye through the image with considerable energy. (Pun intended.) The gray sky offers a clean background, while the ominous clouds underscore the precarious setting for the osprey’s nest.
(A few months after I made this image, I learned that this nest is not far from a fish hatchery, which may well account for it's location--still another reminder of the linkage between nature and man.)
26-MAY-2010
Hot springs, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
I photographed this group of people enveloped in the steam pouring from the earth in Yellowstone’s Midway Geyser Basin. They stand upon wooden boardwalks that are largely invisible here. They seem to be incongruously walking on fire, and appear oblivious to the fact that they are also floating within a cloud, a cloud not so different from the ranks of clouds that float in the sky over their heads. They are linked here to the forces of nature itself, and should long remember this moment.
25-MAY-2010
Log bearers, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
Four National Park Service employees march in lock step, bearing a stripped and barren log to be used in a Yellowstone construction project. I photograph the chore from behind, abstracting it and giving it a sense of somber dignity amidst the flowing grasses that surround them. They remind me of pallbearers, carrying a work of nature that has been harvested and transformed by man. The grasses seem to act as mourners.
15-NOV-2009
Red Rock Crossing State Park, Sedona, Arizona, 2009
A sense of awe and wonder often accompanies visitors to this site, perhaps the most popular in the Sedona area. The creek here flows over red rocks, and often divides itself into multiple streams of water. This woman has walked on to a narrow path that has water on both sides. She stood silently for several minutes, seemingly at one with the natural world. Unbeknownst to her, I was standing behind her, and noticed that the two narrow trunks of a small tree echoed the position of her legs. She is absorbed in nature, and given my vantage point, nature is absorbed in her.
24-OCT-2009
Cemetery, Suleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey, 2009
Roses are emblematic of the natural world. Like man, they grow, bloom, and die. Here, they are juxtaposed with the graves of man, honoring the memory of those who rest here. Not far away is the tomb of Suleyman the Magnificent, who built the Ottoman Empire. A fitting image – it was Suleyman who fostered Istanbul’s golden age of artistic achievement.
23-JUL-2009
Shark strike, off Gloucester, Massachusetts, 2009
Mankind has always hunted and fished for both survival and pleasure. I photographed a group of deep-sea fishermen trolling for sport several miles off the Massachusetts coast. Almost all the creatures that were hauled up out of the deep were thrown back due to size restrictions. In this image, we see the magical moment when the prey first comes into view. It is the strike of a sand shark, its jaws clamped upon a hunk of bait. The water abstracts the shark, making it seem more mysterious and menacing than it looks when seen out of the water. These small sharks are also known as Dogfish – they are very common and quite active. This image of a shark being drawn up from the dark waters of the Atlantic Ocean by a fishing line can also be seen as a metaphor for Man’s dependency on nature for food as well as symbolizing the food chain itself – a shark chews here on a chunk of fish, and man is ready and willing to chew on a shark, if it should be large enough to be taken. This shark was quickly relieved of its hook, and tossed back into the sea.
21-JUL-2009
Weather, Castle Hill, Ipswich, Massachusetts, 2009
The weather – nature’s way of expressing itself – has battered the surface of this statue for nearly 100 years. It has no defenses – it must take whatever blows nature inflicts, gradually deteriorating under its punishment. . Man, on the other hand, is able to adapt to nature’s rampages. In this case, a tourist is warmly wrapped in a hood and jacket as she strides past the row of statues lining Castle Hill’s impressive Grand Allee – the half-mile long backyard of the Crane Plumbing family’s former mansion.
23-JUN-2009
Bearskin, Forks, Washington, 2009
This skin is draped over a chair at the entry to a local restaurant. It is a hunter’s trophy, a reminder that man often will take from nature whatever he wants. I stress the bear’s fierce expression, mouth wide open, displaying its dangerous teeth. Yet the bear is mute and powerless here, strapped on to the back of a bench as an ornament in a restaurant. It no doubt is intended remind visiting tourists that they are at the edge of Olympic National Park, where creatures such as this are still free to roam. But for some, this shell of a bear, lashed in death upon a hard bench, will underscore the precarious state of the environment as a whole.
18-JUN-2009
A child’s touch, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, California, 2009
Some of the most impressive trees in the world stand in this park. Yet we see only their trunks – their soaring branches merge into a canopy overhead that is virtually impossible to photograph expressively. I was left to concentrate on that part of a redwood tree that best tells its story – the lines and textures of its ancient trunk. I was photographing such a trunk when a hand suddenly appeared from the other side. It was the hand of a young child, climbing into the crook of the tree so that her father could take her picture there. I made this shot of us her hand as it entered the crook and grasped the tree. This image incongruously matches the touch of a child’s hand to wood that was growing almost a thousand years ago. Her youth is forever linked to its age, and through it to the story of nature itself.
22-JUN-2009
Wonderful Beds, Astoria, Oregon, 2009
I thought the quaint sign heralding the benefits of staying in this old hotel was amusing in itself, but then noticed that the weather did not seem amused. A rainstorm was moving in on us from above, making those beds seem even more wonderful. I stress the brute force that Nature brings to bear on man here, yet at the same time offer a cozy alternative as context.
25-JUN-2009
Conversation, Thunderbird Park, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 2009
Man has always made gods out of nature. Indians who once lived in British Columbia carved this totem pole – a religious symbol – out of what once was a living tree. It stands in a park full of totem poles, and full of living trees as well. I used my frame to pair one of them with this pole. It is almost as if they are having a conversation.
22-JUN-2009
Pilings, Astoria, Oregon, 2009
These pilings stand in Astoria’s harbor. It is as if nature herself has incongruously crowned the work of man herek with grasses. The early morning sun paints a striped shadow on each of them, and illuminates the grasses as well. Nature is also a colorist – she matches the color of the grass with the green moss on the side of the pilings.
15-JUN-2009
Evening visitor, Fort Bragg, California, 2009
A huge sea lion makes itself right at home on a pier in the middle of Fort Bragg’s harbor.
Sea lions often sleep on coastal city piers – they must feel relatively secure, and there may often be easy snacks left by the fishing boats that dock here. We returned the following morning to see if there were more seals here, and found none. They had all gone to sea.
23-JUN-2009
Stunned, Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, Washington, 2009
Black tailed deer roam at will around the Hurricane Ridge overlook, feeding on the lush grasses that line its parking lots. I photographed this man on a cell phone, standing only a few feet away from a mother and its fawn. Wild deer are usually quite shy, and keep a good distance from people. But at Hurricane Ridge, they seem feel no threat. For man, however, such behavior comes as a surprise. This fellow seems rather stunned. I can almost hear him describing the animal activity playing out before him – a rare scene in a world where wild animals and man are often at odds.
25-JUN-2009
The imprint of man, Port Angeles, Washington, 2009
I made this image from the ferry bringing us back to the United States from Victoria, British, Columbia. I was struck by the imprint man makes on nature – as we approached the US coast, the rolling hills of Washington became visible, standing green in the summer sun. The waters below us were blue, as was the sky overhead. Yet as we moved closer, the green hills around Port Angeles sprouted a matrix of industrial chimneys some of them belching smoke into the afternoon air. I made this image with a long telephoto lens from several miles out to sea.
13-APR-2009
Risk, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, 2009
These tourists have left the safety of the canyon’s rim walk, and climbed out on to the rocky precipice hanging over the gorge for a better view. On one hand, it is always frightening to see visitors take such risks. Every year, I read about people who fall hundreds of feet to their deaths from such rocks as these. On the other hand, I found considerable meaning in this scene. The figures are so small, dwarfed by the immensity of the buttes and cliffs in the background. I used a medium telephoto focal length telephoto lens (250mm) to compress the scene and bring the opposing cliffs closer to the onlookers. However, I did not want to push my zoom too far, and lose the tremendous sense of scale incongruity here. This scene puts man into play with nature itself. The figures here are small and nature is immense. They are young, and nature here is old – very old. They seem utterly relaxed, yet they unknowingly risk all for the sake of an evening commune with the natural world.
12-SEP-2008
Fishing at Burney Falls, Burney, California, 2008
The fisherman is small, the falls large, the contrast expressive. He is dwarfed in scale, yet our eyes go right to him because he wears a bright yellow jacket. That spot of color in an otherwise monochromatic scene is essential to meaning. If he were wearing a less vivid color, he would blend into the background and no longer pull his own weight in this image. As it stands, this photograph contrasts the power of nature to the pleasures of man.
13-MAY-2008
Risk, Yosemite Falls, Yosemite National Park, California, 2008
A man struggles to gain a foothold on a wet rock just below the curtain of water that explodes before him. Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North America, sending water plunging nearly 2,500 feet into the pool at his feet. He seems incongruously puny in scale, bowing to the pulverizing force of the falling curtain of water only a small slip away from disaster. I open the gallery with this image because it symbolizes man’s epic struggle against the overwhelming forces of nature. Man continually risks nature’s fury at every turn. We must come to respect its power if we are to survive.
17-MAY-2008
Gold Rush remnant, Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, California, 2008
In 1848, James Marshall discovered gold in the American River, and within a year, thousands of miners came to California from all over the world to find their fortunes.
Some of their rusting equipment still remains visible. I photographed a piece of 160-year-old mining machinery in the glow of a late afternoon sun along a dry creek bed leading to the American River. Gold is a natural product, historically valued by man for its beauty and scarcity. I thought the pool of golden grass evoked the natural beauty of gold. The rusting piece of metal machinery offers an incongruous presence – symbolizing the heavy hand of man upon the environment. It lies forlorn in the weeds, now as useless as the greedy dreams of those who once lived and worked and died here during the Gold Rush.
13-MAY-2008
Graffiti over Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California, 2008
I have little interest in replicating the famous views of Yosemite’s Half Dome created by Ansel Adams and others. When Adams made his memorable black and white images of this very scene, there were no contrail clouds in the skies left by jet aircraft passing overhead. Today those same skies are filled with contrails, adding a symbolic matrix of technologic graffiti to the scene. I made this image as both an incongruous reference to a famous photograph and as a potential warning of environmental incursions yet to come. Yosemite offers one of the most beautiful natural wilderness areas on earth, yet even within this sanctuary, the hand of man can overwhelm the fragile beauty of nature.
12-MAY-2008
Frost Shop, Mariposa, California, 2008
This incongruous neon sign is the only remaining trace of the drive-in ice cream shop that once stood on this street corner. Weeds have crawled up its base, and seem intent on eventually getting to that neon ice cream cone. The sign is a work of man, now left to the whims of nature. My image reminds us that man’s pleasures are temporary and easily forgotten. Yet nature never forgets.
14-MAY-2008
The Hand of Man, Yosemite National Park, California, 2008
The skillful fingers of this photographer cradle a tiny camera as he quietly stalks a chattering squirrel just outside of Yosemite’s famed Ahwahnee Hotel. Together, fingers and camera repeat the arc of a fragile sprig of greenery emerging from the tree – a tree that abstracts the image by hiding the photographer from us. The photographer, of course, is not aware of this symbiotic natural relationship. But the viewer will be.
15-MAY-2008
Field Trip, Yosemite National Park, California, 2008
A cluster of high school students gathers on Yosemite’s Stoneman Meadow. They stand below the budding trees and massive granite monoliths that make Yosemite a spectacular natural arena, yet they seem to have eyes only for each other. I make the group of students incongruously small, dwarfed by the grandeur of the natural world. I wanted this image to imply the subordinate role of man in the natural realm. The great meadow below their feet, and the towering trees and cliffs of Yosemite above them, should still be there long after the last human has departed. Yet we also might wonder, given the precarious state of the global environment, if Yosemite too, may someday vanish.
14-MAY-2008
Faded inscriptions, Yosemite National Park, California, 2008
The Giant Sequoias that stand in Yosemite’s Mariposa Grove are among the largest on earth. Some of them are over 2,000 years old. This one fell 300 years ago, and generations of visitors have inscribed their names on the curving surfaces of its ancient roots. I moved the camera close to a few of those inscriptions. Time has made most of them illegible. The fallen Sequoia proves that even the oldest living things eventually fall and die. Yet this tree managed to survive far longer than the faded inscriptions carved into its roots.
16-MAY-2008
Elation, Glen Alpine Falls, near Lake Tahoe, California, 2008
The man appears to be passionately celebrating nature as a wall of water roars down on him through the trees. (Actually, he is throwing large rocks at the falls -- the big tree at right has obscured a rock in flight, leaving him to echo the thrust of the branches with both of his outstretched arms.) He seems so small, while the wall of water and the trees around him are so large. I wanted to express the simple human desire to exult in nature.
18-MAY-2008
Territorial imperative, Cosumnes River, California, 2008
Here, in an idyllic setting, is a manifestation of man at his most territorial. The owners of this land along the banks of the Cosumnes River obviously want to keep others from setting foot on their land. An ancient tree, burdened here with strident warning signs, seems indecently dressed. We see nature out of character here due to the selfish territorial imperative of man. The tree plays the role of an innocent bystander, made to carry a message it can never understand.
19-MAY-2008
Mining Machinery, Jackson, California, 2008
I moved close to the rusting gear of a 150-year-old mining machine in order to stress the effects of rainwater flowing between the teeth of the gear. Years of streaming moisture have created ideal conditions for nature to thrive upon the abandoned work of man. The green lichen clings to the rusty gear with great precision, and even imitates the pyramidal shapes of the gear’s teeth. The machine, like the men who once built it and used it, is long dead. Yet nature still flourishes within it.
19-MAY-2008
Turkey vultures, Jackson, California, 2008
The cross atop the chapel at Jackson’s Catholic cemetery provides an incongruous yet obviously useful perch for these turkey vultures. The faith of man and these creatures of nature join here in a natural alliance. I photographed these vultures for over 15 minutes, and finally was able to freeze one of them in backlighted flight.
19-MAY-2008
Nature reigns, Jackson, California, 2008
Parts of Jackson’s old cemetery have been virtually turned back to nature. In this case, a human grave gives way to a massive tree. Small in scale, and bent backwards under great pressure, the tiny headstone is no match for the inexorable pressure of nature. In a symbiotic gesture, man nourishes nature here.
19-MAY-2008
Our Darlings, Jackson, California, 2008
A small angel stands over a children’s gravesite in the Jackson cemetery. I noticed a fading contrail from a jet plane dropping towards the horizon and moved my camera position so that it seems to be rising into the sky from the gravesite. While the contrail and the angel are both created by the hand of man, they conspire here to lift our thoughts skywards towards the cosmos.
19-MAY-2008
Flora, Jackson, California, 2008
A 21 year-old woman named Flora died in 1874, and was buried in Jackson’s cemetery. Her gravestone has long since fallen over and cracked. It now lies in the shade of flowering weeds. I stood over the stone to make this image, taking care to include a pink plastic flower left by a compassionate human. Flora’s very name ironically speaks of flowers, the work of nature. In death, flowers – both real and imagined – have become her companions.
19-MAY-2008
Target practice, outside Jackson, California, 2008
As we drove through the lovely natural forests that surround the town of Jackson, we discovered an incongruous sight – a shooting range. Humans come into the heart of the natural world here to practice their aim. They shoot at a targets made of debris and leave the shattered remnants behind. Using a wideangle lens, I contrast this human litter box to the green forests and blue skies of the natural world.
18-MAY-2008
Ruined store, Volcano, California, 2008
Volcano is a tiny village dating back to the Gold Rush of the 1850s. Many of its original buildings are still standing, but I found the ruins of the community store the most beautiful of its subjects. It was late in the day, and the setting sun was backlighting the weeds that stood within the walls of the ruin. The door framed the translucent weeds, which contrast to the textures of the old gate and stone walls. A tree grows out of the doorsill, while ivy covers the top of the wall. Nature has come to reclaim the work of man here, and does so in a poetic manner.
20-MAY-2008
Under the rainbow, Fairfield, California, 2008
It is seldom we see a horizontal rainbow embedded in a layer of clouds. Yet when we took a driving break in Fairfield on the way back to the San Francisco Bay Area from California’s Gold Country, this was the sight that greeted us. The rainbow by itself would be a marvelous image, rich both in color and symbolism. Yet Fairfield also lies in the flight path of nearby Travis Air Force Base, and so we waited for one of its huge transport planes to approach the rainbow, allowing us a chance to link the plane, a work of man, to the rainbow, a work of nature. A plane soon approached and we made an image of it, but its flight path carried it well below the rainbow. Later, using Photoshop, I adjusted the position of the plane, placing it just underneath the rainbow. Normally, I do not like to shift subject position digitally. Yet in this case, the essential facts were already there – the rainbow and the plane were both in my picture. Just as I would freely crop an image to shift a subject within the frame if need be, I felt this situation justified using Photoshop’s clone tool to modify the position of the plane within the frame in order to link it more closely to the rainbow. However, I would always make sure to let my viewers know that the image has been digitally adjusted in this manner. To fail to do so in a work of travel photography, nature photography or photojournalism would be, in my own view, unethical.